East of Eden
by Boke
Summary: Hermione has one big secret, and she wants to keep it her secret! But that's not what Lady Fortuna has in mind... Dramione WIP


A/N: Don't own anything…jk rowling does! This story still has to be beta-read!

Chapter one: Stix and Stones

There was only one thing on Hermione Grangers mind after professor Snape had explained there newest assignment. This was an odd occurrence considering her mind was usually occupied with far too many thoughts. Yet this didn't mean that she was at ease, on the contrary; she had never been more stressed out than this very minute.

She glanced down at her notes and reread the potion that they had to brew. It wasn't really that difficult; although every ingredient had to be added at the exact amount for it to work, her brain and skill had never failed her and she knew that it wouldn't fail her today. She wasn't scared that she would mess up the assignment; she was scared the effect the potion would have if it worked.

Someone pinched her right arm which awoke her from her reverie; she looked up to see Harry sitting next to her nodding to the front of the class. When she turned she saw professor Snape walking towards their table.

'Miss Granger, I understand that for a Gryffindor like yourself it is hard to concentrate on anything outside your own little world, but I would expect a bit of attention from the Head girl.' His sly voice filled the room. 'Ten points from Gryffindor for lack of interest.' Snickers came from the right side of the dungeon, which was completely occupied by Slytherins.

A few Gryffindors tried to protested, but they quickly glanced down to their books after Snape scowled at them. Hermione stared at the professor and blinked a few times, she couldn't believe she had just lost house points for doing nothing.

'As I was saying, brewing the Mcphee-Ensor potion is so easy that even the most ignorant amongst yourselves should be able to complete this task.' Neville whimpered when Snape looked at him.

'This will be your senior project for Potions and will count for one third of your potion NEWT. But that isn't all. Since they are so many of you looking forward to the cheap thrill of becoming an auror, this assignment is in cooperation with the defence against the dark arts class. Professor Malone will explain this further.' His right hand gestured to the entrance of the dungeon.

'Thank you Severus' all the heads turned to the back of the class when they heard a sensual female voice. Hermione could see the perky blond woman slowly walking to the front. The way Malone's hips moved with every step she took, it made all the boys in the classroom eye's widen. Ron seated behind her sighed as Malone past him, she scowled at him when she saw him not talking his eyes of off the woman's behind. She should have scowled at Professor for wearing those tight jeans and such a revealing tank top. But even though she couldn't stand the way that woman had every man and boy wrapped around her perfectly manicured fingers, she was still a professor and Hermione had never disrespected a professor.

'Well as professor Snape might have explained already you are going to prepare the Mcphee-Ensor potion. Yes, Ronald?' Hermione turned around to see Ron's hand in the air, eager to ask a question. Hermione huffed slightly and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Another reason she loathed the woman, she had found a way to even get her boys to pay attention, something Hermione could rarely get done.

'Excuse me Professor Malone, but what exactly is the Mcphee-Ensor potion and what does it have to do with becoming an auror?' His voice sounded honestly interested which made Hermione's upper lip curl in disgust.

'That's a very interesting question Ronald.' She gave him a saucy wink 'The Mcphee-Ensor potion is nothing more and nothing less than a body switching potion. This means you get to spend time in another person's body for a while. As an auror it is necessary that you are capable of blending in, and understanding other people, maybe even better than you understand yourself. And that's where I come in.' She pointed at herself and smiled at Neville, who almost lost balance and fell from his chair.

'The potion will work approximately for 4 days, in those four days you will have to walk, talk, work and be that person where you switched bodies with.' The witch continued dramatically. Hermione eyes widened, four days! She had hoped that it would have been for only an hour but now she really was in big trouble.

'You will be paired up with someone outside your house and will have to pretend to be him or her without letting anyone find out. If anyone finds out you will be deducted points, per person who discovers your secret identity; 5 points and since there are only 30 to be earned' She smiled at the class.

'As for the pairs' Malone continued 'those have already been formed, and you will have the chance to get to know your partner at six this evening. There is only one more thing I have to tell you before you get dismissed from this class. Since there are more boys than girls in this room, all girls will be paired with a boy.' Lavender Brown and the Patil twins uttered a few words which Hermione didn't dare repeat, but completely agreed with, until the truth sunk in. She was going to get paired up with a boy, which meant a boy was going to be her, a boy of another house none the less. She suddenly felt very nauseous; her hands flew to her stomach while she doubled over and fell from her chair. She heard Harry and Ron's worried voices before she threw up all over the dungeon floor.

Strong arms wrapped themselves around her thin figure and picked her from the floor. She opened her eyes to stare straight into very worried green eyes.

'Are you all right Hermione?' She looked around to see all people looking at her.

'I'm fine Harry, really, you can put me down.' She said softly, still tasting half digested food. 'It must be something I ate.' Harry gently placed her in the chair. When she saw him glancing at Ron, she knew they both weren't convinced, but had decided to leave it for now.

'Maybe you should go to Mrs Pomfrey?' Ron suggested, while scourigifing the floor.

'No!' She immediately answered 'I'm fine, I just need a few minutes.'

'Are you sure you are feeling better Miss Granger.' A clearly not worried Professor Malone asked. 'I know you hate to miss class, but if you would like someone to accompany you to the bathroom so you can clean up…' Hermione looked up from her desk; straight into Malone's challenging bleu eyes. She saw that the rest of the class was looking at her with a mixture of worry, pity and disgust and realised that she probably looked very disgusting.

'Thank you Professor' Hermione spat out. 'I will be fine on my own.' Malone looked a bit taken aback by the way Hermione had spoken that sentence, but continued her lecture while Hermione stalked out of the class alone.

Hermione didn't care much about what that woman had to say. Besides, she knew that whatever Malone was saying right now would be repeated ten times at diner. She still wasn't feeling to well, so she entered the first bathroom she saw.

She immediately went to the sink and turned the water on. While she let the water run over her wrists she looked up into the mirror. She had been right; she did look disgusting, there were smudges on her face and her sweater was stained. She took her wand from her pocket and preformed a few spells until she was a bit more satisfied with her appearance. She couldn't believe she had thrown up because of an assignment.

Alarm bells went off in her head. She had some serious research to do before six o'clock this evening. Maybe the potion was damaging or there might be side effects that she wasn't aware of. She decided to skip diner and go straight to her room and the library. After being sick like that, she wasn't that hungry anyway.

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Hermione was thankful that the headquarters wasn't very far from the dungeons. After giving the password to the iron maiden, she walked into the living area before entering her bedroom. She immediately walked over to the four-poster bed, got onto her knees and pulled a bleu carton box from underneath it. She gently placed it in front of her on the ground and took the lid of.

She had always been known for having everything in good order, even when she was 8 she had all her documents from school arranged in little boxes. All the research and scrolls she had written over the past six months where in this box, ordered first on subject and secondly on date. She let her fingers slide over the papers and took out a little notebook. She opened it and started reading her first entry.

_20-11-1996 _

_Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry_

_Hello it,_

_If you think turning points in your life take months or at least hours you're mistaken! Two days ago I found out that ten minutes in a broom closet can change your life forever. It wasn't even pleasant, it was pure agony, yet here I am and there you are. Normally I'm a very down to earth person, every friend of mine will tell you that I'm very practical, yet I let someone seduce me in a "quick one" as he so wonderfully put it. And to think that was my first time! This will be my first advice to you; don't ever make a rash decision because your feelings are hurt. I should have never been so upset that Harry had finally hooked up with Luna and Ron and Evangeline, a pretty seventh year Ravenclaw, had their six month anniversary. I felt lonely and Dean had slipped firewhiskey into the Gryffindor common room, naturally the later enhanced the first which resulted in a very bad hangover and after a month apparently in a very pregnant me. _

_So 'it' that's the story of how you where conceived. I'm sorry if I offend you by calling you 'it', I haven't decided what to name you yet, since I don't know if you're a boy or a girl. That's one thing more I need to place on my very long list of things to do; research baby names._

_So two days ago I found out that I'm having you. You can say I had options, but I don't really think that's the case. I could never get rid of you nor could I let other people raise you. From the stories Harry tells me; not knowing your parents is one of the worst things. So I decided that I could do this, I can raise you; with or without help. _

_Another decision I made is not to tell a soul. With the war and everything, I don't want to upset them even more. And I also don't want them to look at me differently, I know they would try to protect me, but I don't want there protection! I can take care of myself, and everything or everyone that comes along. And if Voldemort would find out… let's just say it best if no one knows. _

_Tomorrow I'm going to research a spell that will see if you're completely healthy and if you posses magic. _

_Your mother (Merlin that sounds strange)_

_Hermione_

A smile came on her face, it was still strange to read the word 'mother'. She couldn't get used to it. She flipped trough a few pages and started reading another entry.

_25-02-1997_

_Dear it,_

_Today something strange happened, not good, not bad, just something strange. As you know I'm starting to show, for some particular reaso, you are a fast grower. So everytime I go outside of my room I have to perform a disillusion charm on my belly. Now today I needed to go to the bathroom so bad, another side effect of being pregnant, I walked out of my room in my pyjamas, not even bothering to put on a robe. I walked straight into the headboy, Blaise Zabini, who was out of bed very early this morning. I fell back onto the floor. When I looked up I saw Blaise looking at me his mouth hanging open and eyes wide. I realised that I hadn't preformed the disillusion charm. I was on my feet as fast as possible and pointed my wand at his head. I never trusted a slytherin, so I made him promise that he wouldn't tell anyone or I would prevent him from ever getting a girl in the position I was in. He was so shocked, he started asking so many questions I decided to trust him and tell him everything. Turns out he's really nice, but this could be the hormones speaking. He listened to me, and gave me advice where he could. We had a really long talk; it was nice to tell someone about you, it._

Hermione remembered that day so well. Blaise was the only one who knew, and she was going to keep it that way until a few days before, or after, giving birth. Blaise knew everything, even who the father was, though he was a bit shocked to say the least.

'He does a lot for us, doesn't he it?' She whispered while rubbing her belly. It was true, he got her trough her emotional rollercoaster and if she felt bad or tired he would be there for her.

'Too bad he's gay' she laughed, while getting up from the floor. She was the only one who knew his little secret; he had told her so she had something to hold against him if he was to slip her secret, that cunning Slytherin. She lifted the box from the ground and placed it on the bed. She took a scroll from it and stuffed it in her bag before heading to the library.

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Hermione was seated at her normal table, in one of the far ends of the library. Scrolls, quills and inkpots where scattered on the table, and she was furiously skipping trough her notes. She had looked trough at least twenty books, on pregnancy and on body switching, and not one of them warned that pregnant woman or the baby are in danger when switching bodies. The pregnancy books said that there was no problem with performing any kind of magic when pregnant, but they didn't say anything specific concerning a body switching potion. She wanted to find something anything, because otherwise she was going to have to ask, something she didn't want to do.

There was only one book left that she hadn't checked and it was her last hope. She walked over to the book rack and opened the copy of "Switching Lives; another look on body switching potions" when she heard a voice behind her.

'Hello Hermione, we missed you at dinner.' Hermione squealed and dropped the book on the floor. She whirled around and saw Ron and Harry giving her strange looks. Hermione bent down to pick the book from the floor, but Ron was faster. She cursed inwardly.

'Are your doing research on the potion?' Ron sighed 'Is that why you missed diner; to do research?'

'No Ronald' She rolled her eyes 'For your information I missed diner because I was sick all over the dungeon floor, or don't you remember that.' She snapped at him, while pulling the book from his hands.

'Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do and we only have half an hour left before we have to switch bodies.' She turned around and slammed the book onto the table, a bit harder than expected. She took the page she needed and started reading, when she heard Harry's voice.

'I don't know what's wrong, Hermione, but you're acting very strange and I just hope everything's alright.' She heard the boys leave, while Ron made a comment about hormones. He should know how right he is!

She continued reading and after about twenty minutes found the paragraph she needed. It stated that when there was a sickness or pregnancy, it would stay in the original body and would not switch with the soul. This was good news, but that still meant she would have to explain everything to the person who was going to be her. She sighed and looked at her wristwatch.

'Merlin, I'm going to be late.' She hurried down the hallway, but decided against running since 'it' prevented her from heavy exercise.

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'Your late, Granger.' Was the first thing Hermione heard when she entered the dungeon. She looked to see where it came from, and was welcomed with a sneer from a grey eyed slytherin.

'Yes Mrs Granger do you care to explain, what made it absolutely impossible for you to arrive here on time?' Professor Snape said before she could retort to Malfoy.

'My apologies Professor, I was doing research and lost track of time.' She sat down next to Neville and watched as Professor Malone started her monologue.

'Well now that we are all here.' She glanced down at Hermione 'It's time to set up the pairs. You will, one by one, walk trough that door.' She pointed at a wooden door at the other end of the room. 'For every pair that door will lead to a different room. In that room you will find everything necessary for brewing the potion and to get acquainted.' She smiled at the class, while taking a purple coloured scroll from the table.

'Let's start! First name to call is Harry Potter.' Harry stood from his chair and walked to the door. He waved goodbye to her, Ron and Neville and walked trough the door. A bleu light erupted and Harry disappeared inside the room.

This went on until Hermione Granger was called out. Hermione walked to the door, praying that she would get someone good. She stepped trough the door and entered a room which looked much like the dungeon. The only difference was that the room was much smaller and there where no desks in it. There where two tables, one with a cauldron, ingredients and notes, and one with thee and biscuits. There were two doors in the room; on one of them had printed golden letters spelling her name on it. When she looked at the other to know the name of her partner, she saw no name had appeared yet.. She decided to see what was inside her room, and when she opened the door she saw a beautiful white bathroom with a shower, a sink and a dresser with extra clothes. She rubbed her belly absentmindedly.

She was inspecting the sinks and softly touched the golden tabs. She went to the clothes that where on a dresser and touched the expensive material.

'Slytherin robes… seems like I'm going to be a slytherin for the next few days, it.'

'Well isn't this wonderful Granger, talking to yourself now are we?' She spun around so fast she almost lost balance. 'I always knew you where barking mad, but turns out you're mentally insane too.' She sucked in a deep breath when she saw Draco Malfoy leaning against the doorframe.

'Aren't you lucky Granger!' He smirked at her while walking out of her bathroom.

'And why would that be?' She snapped while walking behind him out of the bathroom.

'You get to be a pureblood prince for a week, and I get to be prude Gryffindor Princess.' He sat down on one of the chairs and took one of the scones from the plate. She huffed at his relaxed attitude.

'More like I get to be the amazing bouncing ferret and you finally get to know what it's like to have a brain.' And a pregnant woman, she thought, while walking over to one of the chairs opposite of him.

'Sticks and stones Granger.' He smiled slyly while biting in his scone. 'Sticks and stones.'

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A/N: First chapter finished :) happy happy happy …

I hope you liked it, I know there are a lot 'body switching stories', but I hope the whole Hermione pregnant thing is going to make it a bit different from the others.

Review pls … reviews make me happy and you want me to be happy right?

The title of the story and all the titles are songs!

Stix and stones -- Libertines

East of eden -- baby shambles

Next chapter: Angels losing sleep (-- our lady peace)


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